20 Essential Booze Hacks and Cocktail Tricks to Try at Home

With the rise of mixology and the resurgence of classic libations, cocktails are getting their deserved time in the spotlight. While the ingredients are getting more obscure and exotic, the prices are unfortunately rising, too.

Take your cocktail-making game to the next level with these simple tips that don’t require pro-bartending skills, so you can satisfy your desire for killer drinks (and party tricks) at home.

Use leftover herbs to make elegant simple syrups

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 4
How it works: Infuse simple syrups with a variety of left over fresh herbs such as rosemary or mint for an elegant sweeter for cocktails.
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Pre-bottle cocktails for easy transport/drinking/gifting

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 8
How it works: There are certain cocktails that lend themselves well to pre-batching. Package them up in classy glass bottles, add lid and seal for easily transportable ready-to-drink cocktails. Perfect if you have a bit of a DIY streak in you.
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Sweeten cocktails with marmalade

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 2
How it works: Marmalade not only sweetens cocktails but adds a hefty dose of flavor. Add a spoonful to your shaker and strain beverage before serving.
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Cool wine quickly with salt and ice

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 3
How it works: Sure, this isn't exactly a cocktail hack, but it's still terrifically useful.In a bucket, place the bottle of wine with ice, water, and salt. The salt reduces the freezing point of water, which means that bottle of wine will be cool in under 6 minutes.
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Instantly "age" your liquors with sugar

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 3
How it works: Add a homemade burnt sugar syrup to liquors and bitters for an instant "aged" taste.
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Make ice cubes out of tonic water for awesome flavor as it melts.

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 1
How it works: Freeze tonic water in place of plain water in ice cube trays. It must be noted that this isn't a substitute for tonic water since freezing destroys the carbonation. Furthermore, this works best in cocktails that use tonic water as an ingredient (like, say, a gin and tonic).
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Also, boil water for professional looking clear ice cubes

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 6
How it works: To serve cocktails like the professionals, your ice cubes must be up to par. For the beautiful clear ones you'll find at high end cocktail bars boil water, let it cool, boil it again, pour into ice cube trays and freeze immediately.
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Turn a watermelon into a keg

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 6
How it works: With just a little bit of cutting, scooping, and a few pieces of hardware, you can turn this summertime fruit into a full blown keg to dispense your favorite cocktail or punch.
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Use a ziploc bag to make adult capri-suns for the beach

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 5
How it works: Capri Suns get an adult makeover. Mix up your favorite cocktails and pour them into plastic bags and freeze. In a couple hours you'll have a slushly cocktail perfect for the beach.
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Quickly chill your booze or mixer with wet paper towels and a fridge

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 3
How it works: This simple trick of wrapping cold wet paper towels around the bottle you wish to cool and sticking it in the fridge will have it chilled in around 15-20 minutes.
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Use leftover wine for an interesting cocktail base

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 4
How it works: On the odd chance that you do have leftover wine, why freeze it into ice cubes to cook with when you can still drink it? Mix wine with complimentary liqueur such as Aperol and some fruit for a snazzy wine cocktail.
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Use a whipped-cream cannister to quickly infuse booze

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 7
How it works: Professional mixologists use nitrous oxide and a cream whipper to infuse booze at warp speed for seriously good cocktails. Want to add dark chocolate to your bourban? Hot chilis to your vodka? Not a problem with this method.
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Put a cup filled with ice into a pitcher to keep your sangria cool

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 1
How it works: Instead of filling up your pitcher of boozy happiness with ice, only for it all to melt and dilute your drink, place ice inside of a plastic cup, secure lid, and place the cup into your pitcher. Boom, cold undiluted booze.
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At outdoor events, use your sneakers as cup holders

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 2
How it works: Sneakers have always been a good friend—they're comfy on the feet and easy to walk in. When outdoors, you can also rest your beer or cocktail glass in your shoe for an easy cup holder.
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Make edible shot glasses out of fruits and vegetables

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 4
How it works: Why not take a shot and chase it with the glass? Some basic knife skills and a melon baller are the only tools you need to craft shot classes out of everything from cucumbers to watermelon.
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Use a pressure cooker to make whiskey.

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 9.5
How it works: It's possible to turn grains into whiskey from the comfort of your own home if you don't mind a relatively intricate process.
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Make layered cocktails to impress guests

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 4.5
How it works: Layered cocktails are proof that fifth grade science class was actually useful. Density plays a large part in creating these spectacular cocktails. Serious Eats has an amazing tutorial that makes layered cocktails approachable.
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Quickly flame an orange for awesome flavor, and to look cool

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 7
How it works: Flaming an orange peel releases its potent oils which adds serious flavors and aromas to your cocktail. It also looks really cool. Make sure to follow the instructions carefully.
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Store leftover wine in a mason jar

Degree of difficulty (0-10): 6
How it works: Yes, "leftover wine" should be an oxymoron. But if you end up with an unfinished bottle and don't want it to go to waste, sealing it in an airtight mason jar will do the trick.
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